I'm working on a fantasy setting for license (I've been approved but I'm a relative newbie in Savage Worlds).

The adventure will be set for a group of novice characters. The first encounter has a troll wildcard (see pic below and pdf attachment - encounters will have cards associated with them for ease of use and the can be stored in handy collectible card sleeves).

Does sound like a bit much for one encounter especially given the special abilities of the troll (only fire can harm it permanently; otherwise it's an acid trap that constantly resets).

I'd also probably just give it a d12 Strength instead of d10+1; nearly the same effect and one less variable to worry about behind the screen._________________Clint Black
Savage Worlds Core Rules Brand Manager

Thanks for the quick replies - This is for the first encounter. I'll remove the goblin barbarian wildcard and the shaman. I'll also put in a "on a wound with a raise" to the Acid Gut ability and limit it to 1/day.

I do have an ability on the goblins -

Fearless - as long as the goblins possess a numerical advantage when in combat they are immune to Guts tests. Depending on initial party size this may or may not come into effect.

Thanks for the quick replies - This is for the first encounter. I'll remove the goblin barbarian wildcard and the shaman. I'll also put in a "on a wound with a raise" to the Acid Gut ability and limit it to 1/day.

That wording is a little confusing to me. Under normal circumstances a wound is when you get a raise on a damage roll, so I'm a little unsure what raise means in this context. Do you mean when a player does two wounds or more in one hit? Or do you mean when a player gets a raise on a damage roll, which could be one or two wounds depending on the troll's shaken status?

That aside it's good to see more developers working on Savage Worlds products. Nice looking troll illustration, too.

Thanks for the input - I'm still catching up on the rules - I'll re-read the wound raising rules - the goal is for it not to happen on every wound, just the "critical type hits" where more than one raise occurs (I think).

The illustrations are all from One Monk Miniatures www.onemonk.com - I'm working on a discount deal for purchasers of Natural Twenty products. Also I'm putting together some pictures using the One Monk miniatures for the Showdown request as well.

Alternately you could say that when it's killed or KO'd it does an acid damge that is equal to 1d6x number of wounds in it's death blow....

I just want to say that I really like this ability! I think I will build an encounter with "Kamikaze Goblins" as enemies which have low toughness and this deadly ability (instead of acid it will be an explosion).

Of course if they are standing side by side there will be a funny chain reaction. *KABOOM*

So I went and pulled up all my Savage Worlds stuff I've got on my hard-drive including A Noble Deceit Savage World adventure. Admittedly it's for a couple versions ago but it was designed for 4-6 novice characters.

Rather than pitting the first encounter against a wildcard perhaps I should make the troll just an extra. I would keep the Acid Gut ability though (which I'm revising to "when two or more wounds are done in a single attack".

That being said, some of the encounters in the adventure are against quite a few foes (10 skeletons in one encounter). Obviously the troll will be dangerous but if he's not a wild card would the following okay for a single first encounter.

1 Troll
3 goblin sword wielders
2 goblin bowmen

I know the troll has the potential to take out a hero on an ace but I the map I'm making has a sweet bridge and the iconic troll/bridge combo just shouts out to me:)

I'm finishing up the cards and the maps today (hopefully). Then it's on to the pre-gens and finish the trappings for the Ordo Arcanum apprentice that's part of the pregen party.

Here's one of the pre-gens. I went with some different art for now. I'm somewhat limited with the monster art as there is not a good selection of character types (without paying extra:)). I've got a good combination of other character art that I may use that matches similar styles in the Thulwyc piece.

I believe the goblins should have a Parry of 5. Fighting (d6)/2+2=5. Other than that they look fine.

I'm counting 16 skill points spent on Thulwyk. A standard starting PC would have 15. That's the only actual error I see, but would probably place the -1 Charisma in the Base column. I use the Mod column for temporary Charisma changes, such as a really good haircut. my thinking is that if Edges and Hindrances don't count towards Base, what does?

AS far as the overall encounter goes, it seems reasonable. It's true that the troll can potentially kill a PC with a single blow, but I believe melee with a troll is not something to be taken lightly. As long as they have a good description of it, they should be wary of closing with it.

I'd probably start the encounter with the players having at least a full turn's Pace between them and the troll, as this is the first encounter in a Novice-level adventure. That at buys them at least round to coordinate ranged attacks on it. One nice special effect of the SW rules is that if they can shake it, as it approaches, its Pace is halved for the round, which nicely reflects the troll staggering under heavy fire, as it approaches.

If they don't use that round to take out, or at least shake the troll, then they deserve whatever the club deals out.

Of course, there is the fire question. D&D vets will be fairly comfortable with the concept of fire defeating trolls, but will the adventure consider that open knowledge? Will there be a Common Knowledge roll to know it? What fire attacks will be at there disposal? I see the pregen so far has flint and steel, but I wouldn't want to have to start a fire that way in combat. With a creature that tough, there isn't a lot of time for trial and error.

Oh they'll have enough time - the setup for the encounter uses this map (which I'm redoing as this was a rough draft from a while ago). The baddies will be attacking the miller and his family with the characters approaching from the north. Depending on what approach the PC's take they will have a few options.

As for the fire - one or two of the pregens will be able to generate fire (Ordo Arcanum apprentice and/or Elven Elementalist)

Actually it's seventeen, as it would cost three points to get that d6 in Intimidation with his d4 Spirit. He took the standard one major and two minor Hindrances and spent the points to get an Edge (in addition to the free Edge from being a human) and two skill points. So it all balances out. My only quibble is that the description of the Habit sounds more like a Quirk._________________The rabbit is cuddly. Kids like little cuddly sidekicks. I mean... The rabbit... It's a time-tested... Okay, the rabbit bites.
Blog: http://sittingduck1313.livejournal.comThe Gamer's Codex Reviewer

Of course, there is the fire question. D&D vets will be fairly comfortable with the concept of fire defeating trolls, but will the adventure consider that open knowledge? Will there be a Common Knowledge roll to know it? What fire attacks will be at there disposal? I see the pregen so far has flint and steel, but I wouldn't want to have to start a fire that way in combat. With a creature that tough, there isn't a lot of time for trial and error.

After it regens it'll likely still be considered shaken unless I'm wrong on the rules... so hopefully the PC's will have enough time to run away and light some fire and come back if they don't have it ready ahead of time.

[quote="Sitting Duck] My only quibble is that the description of the Habit sounds more like a Quirk.[/quote]

I'll have to flesh that out - he actually talks to Clwna and refers to "her" all the time. For example, "Clwna and I will go out and scout" or perhaps when asking the innkeeper for a room, "How much will it cost for Clwna and I to stay here this night?" - this will hopefully lead to some good rp'ing scenarios.

I'll adjust the blurb and put an * on it to refer the user to the back of the sheet.

I'll also be adding some interaction descriptions between the pre-gens like I did on some Castles & Crusades pregens I made for a convention - http://www.naturaltwenty.com/downloads/candc_pregens.pdf - heck I may even just modify those characters for SW and use the art and stuff I've already got made up.

The first scenario is coming along nicely - it'll be for 4 PC's at this time. The miniatures that I'm using from One Monk will be from their current free releases so the cards and artwork will change from my current samples.

Future products may have separate downloads for figs (depending on how current discussions go) from some of the existing miniatures lines.

I'm also really looking forward to the new Showdown rules so I can incorporate some Showdown battles into the mix.

For example, "Clwna and I will go out and scout" or perhaps when asking the innkeeper for a room, "How much will it cost for Clwna and I to stay here this night?" - this will hopefully lead to some good rp'ing scenarios.

Yeah, funny habit, cool -1 Charisma!

You gave him too much hindrances, but the rules are not written in the rock, so you can bend it, if you need some extra points to skill or edges...

I just wanted to comment that I love the idea of putting monster encounter stats on cards. That'd work especially well with a 3-ring binder and the plastic CCG pocket sheets sold in many comic stores (that is, the ones that come in clear plastic, have 9 pockets on the page, and 3-ring punch holes on the side, so you can organize cards in the pockets and see them through the plastic).

Some assorted comments:

Re - Goblin Abilities: Perhaps the goblin ability to automatically pass Guts checks when in superior numbers should apply to Tests of Wills vs. Intimidate as well? (Players aren't likely to cause Fear, unless they have a spellcaster who has a spell of that sort. More likely is that a character might try to Intimidate an opponent for tactical advantage.)

Re - Extras: It looks like, from the sample cards posted in this thread, characters are by default Wild Cards (as with the troll), and are only "extras" if it says "-extra" on the card. For consistency with the way characters are marked in existing Savage Worlds adventures (those few I've seen), I would recommend reversing this and instead letting the reader assume that encounters are with Extras by default, and any Wild Cards would be noted with an icon. (E.g., in Savage Worlds, this role is usually filled by Savage Jack's grinning face. In Pirates RPG, "Jack Hawkins" served this role. In Wonderland No More, a Cheshire Cat head does the trick. For a "generic fantasy" setting, perhaps a dragon head icon would be in theme?)

Re - Card Format: Once again, I love the card format! One thing I'd suggest is that you might enhance readability with very slight indenting to visually distinguish the start of a new stat section. E.g., for "Special Abilities" (with underscore character _ used to represent leading spaces):

Well I've got most of the encounter done and laid out. I've got some fluff to put together (which I'm working on during this lovely Wisconsin weather). Here's a sample page from the Bestiary. I'm still mulling around the ideas for formatting but right now I'm going to stick with a page/critter - note that the bestiary will be Eldrath's particular take on these beasts and contain background info in their description that can be fleshed out by the GM.